College, for some, can seem like a confusing web of roads. Not sure where to go, and not sure how to get there.

Choosing a major isn’t easy. Collecting all of your talents, interests, your passions, and selecting a field of study, an academic career path that they fit into perfectly.

It’s a daunting task, and not one everyone is mature enough to confidently do in the first few years of college.

Some students come to colleges, like VSU, as “undecided” or “undeclared”.

It can be stressful for some, not knowing what their end goal is.

Goals, big or small, can end up being the lifeblood of hard-working students and not knowing exactly what they are working towards can mean additional stress, something that students don’t exactly need any more of.

Lectures, exercises, assignments, and homework can all be more difficult to see to the end when students are unsure of where they are going.

The solutions to this issue, of course, vary.

Time is a common factor and self-reflection helps. Choosing your path often requires growth and getting to know the person that growth allows you become.

Yet, I believe the real issue for “undecided” students is not whether or not they will eventually find a major that fits them, but the attitude in which they allow themselves to carry when venturing forth into this stressful unknown of being “undecided”.

It may be scary, not knowing where you’re going. Even more so with the cost of waiting, but remember, you have an advantage.

You don’t know where you are going, so you’ll be able to go anywhere you’d like.

When a student with a major sits down with their student advisor, their decisions on their academic schedule is often already outlined for them by what credits they need to graduate with.

When an “undecided” student sits down with a student advisor, they should keep in mind that they have no set classes required for a major they have not chosen yet, and so they have the freedom to experience the buffet of topics and studies that VSU provides.

Liz Freedman, during her time as a student employment coordinator for Butler University in Indiana, stated in her research paper, “The Development Disconnect in Choosing a Major” that, “Changing the terminology we use about pre-major students from ‘undecided’ to ‘exploratory’ students or something similar would ensure a more positive connotation rather than one that implies indecisiveness.”

Students without majors should take advantage of this time in their life and be the scholarly explorers they have always wanted to be.

While it may interest some to take classes that are familiar to them, similar subjects to what they gone through in High School, it is a valuable experience to branch out and select classes you have never had the chance to take before.

Astronomy, Sociology, Marketing, Latin, and Dance are just a few of the different subjects that offer a multitude of classes and chances to develop who you are as a person and an academic.

Written by Payton Fletcher, Campus Life Editor. Photo courtesy of Pexels

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